Teaching Music
December 1 ,2015
Girlfriend
Oren and his paratrooper friends were showing me how to jump from our watch tower. The swimming pool was built by the British military for its officers many years before the establishment of Israel. The filtering system was huge tanks of sand where the water would filter through and come out to two waterfalls on each side of our tower overlooking the deep water. They were actually cooling the water from the filtering system. Jumping in between the two waterfalls made us feel in nature. The water was always so clean that you could see even a small coin at the bottom.
“Ok,” said Oren, Bend your knees, yes, squat. Now both arms to the side and bend your elbows and bring your hands up facing forward. This position you need to get to, to get some air resistance. If you extend one arm or leg it effects the way you will move in the air.”
“Like that?” I asked.
“Yes, perfect! Just remember you are not jumping of a plane now. You don’t have much time; this tower is only three meter over the water. You can’t stay that way for long. So, jump as high as you can, form the position and then straighten and fall headfirst to the water.”
“Here we go.” I jumped and as soon as I tried the position I fell on my belly. “Ouch!”
Two minutes later, I tried it again and again until I figured it out. I learned to dive and flip over the water and just have fun. Not to brag much, but I did look good. It was Friday morning, and it was just before my long week vacation. And I was very pleased with myself. I packed my gear and my guitar, said goodbye to Oren and left.
A long week on the beach, it has been a while, I wondered which one of my friends is home. I knew Efri, Buch and Doron were staying at the base, but Nuri and Dubi as well as Udi the talking machine were going to be home and I planned to go out with them to have some coke and fries, no more beer for me.
The sounds of the families having Shabat dinner was all along my way to the restaurant. Every Friday whenever you walk around dinner time you could hear the clinking of the forks or spoons and ceramic dishes. The aromas of the different dishes will let you know exactly from where this family came from. As soon as dinner was over all the young people would go out to the street and simply walk along the main street (Hertzel street in Netanya and in other cities too). So many people were gathering in Netanya which was growing, and more people were moving in either tourists or locals, walking up and down the street that finally the mayor decided to close the street for cars every weekend and eventually turned half of the street, the closest to the shore, into a permanent walking street. No more cars permanently.
Nor Dubi, Nuri or Udi were musicians, so I left my guitar at home that evening and we met at our favorite caffe, ordered our coke with lemon and a plate of fries. Udi ordered Maccabi beer, so I sat far from him. I still couldn’t stand the smell.
“Hey Tibi!” the voice called me from behind.
“Naftali! Nice to see you! Are you out of the military yet?
“Yes! I am a flight attendant with El-Al. I miss playing with you, Bring the guitar tomorrow to the beach, I have one now too.”
“Sure”
“See you tomorrow, 10:00ish.” He said and continued his walk along the street with the rest of the crowd.
Naftali didn’t show up, but I did, with the guitar. It felt a little weird being alone on the beach with the guitar. I usually bring the guitar when I have friends at the beach next to my house. But this time I walked all the way to the recently finished new expanded beach, downtown Netanya. It took a few years, Netanya followed Tel Aviv by building a stone “T” in the water all the way to the deep. Once finished, slowly they took down the leg of the “T” and nature did the rest. Slowly sand accumulated and created a sand arch all the way to the stone wave braker. Creating a larger place for the people to sunbathe and a better controlled swimming area for the lifeguards. Closer to the cliff they built a cement structure for restaurants and walking area above them. Nuri and I took some nice pictures there last winter. Nuri was a great photographer, I loved how he played with lights taking black and white photos. I promised myself, I would hire him as my wedding photographer. (Which really happened many years later.)
I walked a little away from where the crowd was settling and pulled my guitar. I was practicing Santana’s Black Magic Woman when a few people started to gather and sit next to me. I still needed to work on it, Yahalomi showed me the cords just the last week. I switched to some songs I did know just before the group around me grew. The new band “Kaveret” was the most popular band in Israel at that time. I remembered the time they started to develop their music during the Yom Kippur war when they would travel along with the military entertainment crews. Yahalomi showed me a few cords of their music and I picked it up better than the American or European songs. I was singing “Hey Yoya” when I saw a curly head with very big brown eyes staring at me and singing along. Her skin was light brown and soft and her smile was very contagious. She sang with me the whole time. Finally, she got up, approached me and handed to me a piece of paper. “Write to me,” she said, “My name is Aviva.” She left together with another heavy-set girl who looked back at me as they were leaving and waved goodbye. I kept playing for a while and finally walked back home.
The next morning, I decided to walk back to the same spot and play some more. The first to show up was the heavy-set girl.
“Did you write to her? She asked with a teasing smile.
“Come on, I didn’t even look at the address yet.” I said, “Where is she?”
“She’s at Kibbutz HaBonim. she is there for the rest of the summer and next school year, before she goes to the army.”
“I will write to her,” I said and continued playing. Slowly more people showed up and sat next to me. this time I had some friends there too, so it felt ok to leave the guitar for them to watch over it while I go for a swim. No matter how long I worked with water as a lifeguard, I still could never get enough. I went in and swam toward the waves. I waited for the first big wave and body surfed to the shore. I almost bumped with a girl right next to me. Short brown hair with green eyes and a body of a swimsuit model.
“Go again?” she asked.
“Sure!” and we turned back to face the waves again.
“I like the way you sing.” She said when we reached the deep water behind the waves.
“Thanks! Here comes a big one, go, go, go!” we caught the next wave almost all the way to the shore and bumped into one another again. I am not sure if we did it on purpose or by accident, but it felt good.
“I didn’t see you sitting with me.”
“I was sited to your right next to you, today and yesterday.”
“My name is Tibi,” I said as the wave hit my face.
“I know,” she was about to laugh. “Aviva.”
“You too?”
She nodded and we walked back to our circle to do some more music.
“You chew your nails?” I asked as I was walking her toward the bus station. Aviva lived with her father outside of Netanya in a small village called Even Yehuda.
“Yes, I’m afraid so.”
“Ever seen the statue of Venus?”
“Without the arms?”
“Yes, she used to chew her nails…”
“Funny!”
“See you tomorrow?”
“I will not be able to come in the morning, I have to help my dad in the morning. But I will be free in the afternoon.”
“Hmm,” I thought, then said, “want to come over? My parents are away with my baby brother, my second brother is in the military trying to be a pilot. We will have the house for ourselves.” To my surprise and delight she agreed.
“Let’s meet at the corner of Shmuel HaNatziv and Hertzel, she offered, I will be done with Dad around 1:00”
“I will be walking back from the beach. Wait a moment, don’t you have school tomorrow?”
“I do, I’ll tell you all tomorrow.” She kissed me on my cheek and boarded the bus.
“Where is your guitar?” Asked the heavy-set girl.
“Aren’t you supposed to be at school?”
“I skipped.”
“What’s your name?”
“Aviva.”
“You’re kidding, three Avivas?
“Oh yes, I forgot about that one. You walked her home. Don’t forget to write my friend Aviva.”
“I did, last night. Dropped it in the mailbox on the way here.”
“She really liked you, you know, too bad she has to be at her boarding school.”
“I was wondering about that,” I said, “I was in a boarding school too. Two of them, in fact, does she like it there?”
“I guess so, I never heard her complain. She will be joining the military soon after she is graduates next month.”
“I am glad I wrote her. Let’s hope she keeps in touch.”
I spent a few more hours catching waves and started my walk toward my appointment with the other Aviva.
“I lost my mom a few years ago to cancer.” Aviva said as we were walking toward my house. Dad is almost 70 years old. Both of them were holocaust survivors. I skip school almost every day to make sure he’s ok. Today I had to go with him to the lawyer to renew the rental agreement. We live in a rented small house, but soon we’ll be moving.”
“Where will you be moving to?”
“We just found a townhouse for rent in the south side of Netanya, not too far from our village. This is why I skipped school today.”
“Let me know if I can help in anything. As long as it is when I am here. I get a leave every other week.”
We spent the afternoon together and a few others until I went back to camp. I promised her to stop by at her place first when I get back a week later.
Lili my best friend at the base came to visit me at the pool the next day. I told her all about the three Avivas.
“You like her?” She asked.
“Very much so.”
“How about we put it to a test?”
“What do you have in mind?”
“See that girl across? What do you think of her?”
Across, on the other side of the pool sat a girl with a green bikini. She was sitting on a lounging chair facing the afternoon sun. Her dark blond hair was cut short above her ears. She got up and dove in. she started swimming with perfect free style and then changed to the butterfly style. It is my favorite swimming style.
“Can you imagine her doing that in bed?” I asked Lili.
“Hold on,” she said, “Osnat!” she called when the girl reached the edge.
The girl looked up at us.
“Hey Lili, what are you doing up there?”
“Come up, I want you to meet my friend.”
Osnat came out of the water and walked toward my tower and climbed up.
“Meet Tibi,” Said Lili. “Tibi, meet Osnat.”
She was prettier up close than what I thought. I took a deep breath. Her skin was evenly tan and was covered with what you would call peach fuzz. I think her legs never saw a razor blade. The whole body was covered with the softest very short fuzz. Instantly, I was imagining her skin against mine.
“Nice to meet you!” we both said in unison, yet I could feel that I wasn’t her type, so I didn’t even think of making any move. “You can always look at the menu, but you always pick your favorite dish” I thought to myself. And right now, Aviva, the one with the green eyes was my favorite dish.
“So? What do you think? Asked Lili.
“Oh, she is gorgeous, but we aren’t going anywhere, I am not a pilot…”
“What do you mean?”
“Come on, you know all the pretty girls here are looking to hook up with a pilot; they have wings on their …”
“I heard it was a star,” said Lili with a smile. “How about that pretty red head paratrooper on the far right of the pool?”
“She is fine,” I smiled I leave her for Oren, he’s got his eyes on her, the little blond next to her is after him but he loved the red one,” I said like a know it all. “Do you see what she’s holding?”
“Yes, a crate of strawberries, is she going to eat it all?”
“Hmmhmm, I just spoke with her before you came. She is highly allergic to strawberries, but she loves them very much. Every year at the height of the season she would binge on it in one day. Before you know it, she will be all red. Blondie has a special cream for her in her bag.”
“That’s crazy!”
“Yup!”
“Ok, How about the other two girls on the other side?
I looked at Lili and though a little.
“These two are not looking for pilots. The one with the light blue bathing suit is the older one, the other with the black and white bikini is the younger sister – I mean rally younger - 15 years old. Rachel and Leah are the daughters of the logistic officer. I don’t want to get in trouble with Dad.”
“Smart!”
“That little girl is after me, every day she comes with another hot bathing suit and makes sure I see her and only after that she would come and try to start a conversation. Her older sister, I can see, cracking up every time.”
“Hmm”
“And don’t worry, this weekend my girlfriend will be coming to visit. This way they will all know to back off.”
“You win,” said Lili. “I hope I get to meet her before I leave the military.”
“You will, she will be here this Friday afternoon.”
***
Change of Plans
The summer was almost over, Aviva came to visit me a few times. She graduated and joined the military. The fact that her father was an elderly man and alone gave her the opportunity to serve close to home and spend most of the nights with him, and her free time with me. I received a letter from the headquarters to appear for an interview in regard to my application of dismissal of the contract. Lucky for me, both the master Sergeant and the logistic officer liked me and my dedication to my swimming pool and promoted me to the rank of sergeant. I had four more weeks before my mandatory service ends and if I stayed for my contract, I would start getting paid. My meeting was set at Tel-Aviv’ Airforce’s headquarter.
Captain Haim Mizrahi was waiting for me at his office behind a desk with a pile of folders.
“We have the same first name.” said Captain Mizrahi.
“Well, in fact, my first name is Nani, and everyone calls me Tibi.” I said calmly.
“Have a seat,” said the Captain and pointed to the chair in front of him. “We received your application, and we are ready to allow you to be dismissed of your obligation to your contract. But I have a proposal for you that will look a lot better on your record. And you will have a great opportunity to do some good for your country.”
“I am listening.”
“First, I am ready to promote you to sergeant first class within the next three month and master sergeant a year after that if you are willing to take this assignment.”
“Interesting,” I said, still not very excited. I was there to get my honorary dismissal without any deal.
“I read your file and record. I saw how you were passed on and you never got any opportunity to show your real talent and value.”
“Hmm,” I thought, “interesting approach.”
“The truth is,” continued captain Mizrahi. “I need you. I could use your expertise. I got my hand on your school records and saw how you tackled difficult scenarios.”
“You mean my trouble shooting?”
“Yes, once you started to take the specialty course your scores went up and you never failed a test. I believe if I give you the task of managing the service department, you will be perfect. I saw how well you handled the swimming pool too.”
“Really? The swimming pool? Is that the best you can come up with? What’s the big deal with the running of a swimming pool?”
“Forget that, here is the deal: We are building a new Airforce base in the middle of Sinai. It will have the newest Israeli made airplane called Nesher (eagle) and later the Kfir once it becomes official.” Both plains are a combined design of the French Mirage and the American Fantom. The sleek aerodynamic delta shape with the strong American engine. It was a nice challenge. Some of the schematics I colored at the academy were of the Nesher.
“So,” he continued, if you accept the deal, you will finish your assignment at Tel-Nof, go on two weeks’ vacation, then come and join me at the new place called Yamit.”
“Can you put this in writing?”
“Of course, You will receive the contract next time I see you in Yamit.
Aviva was very impressed with my promotion and new assignment. She was a code breaker at her new position. I took time settling my affairs. Rachel and Leah insisted on having my phone number and I left for my vacation. I was able to help Aviva and her father move to the new rented house and got to know him a bit better. Imre was born in hungry. In his young age he was sent by the Nazis to a consecration camp in Auschwitz. Because he was still young and strong, he was sent to another labor camp where he stayed until the end of world war II.
“We had to brake stones of the mountain to make bricks.” He said with heavy accented broken Hebrew. “Sorry, My Hebrew is not good, you will learn Hungarian before I learn Hebrew.”
“Maybe I will.” I said with a smile, I love learning languages.
“I had friends in the kitchen who were peeling potatoes every day. They would peel a thick skin because they knew that we would come at night and pick it up from the garbage. So, we would have something to eat.”
“How did you survive?”
“We escaped, crawled under the fence. Walked in the forest the whole night. I remember gathering mushrooms. One of my friends ate the red mushrooms and went crazy. He was dancing on the fire bare feet until he fell and died.”
“This is awful!” I said, “I am glad you made it.”
Imre smiled and went back to his work in the back yard. He was a house painter by trade and had many ladders. I saw him once literally walking using the ladder as legs while painting the ceiling.
“Not bad for a 70-year-old man, eh?” He would brag.
Every night he would go to bed early before 8:00 and wake up at 4 or 5:00 am. Walk around the neighborhood collecting mostly planks of wood. One day I came to visit, and he showed me two broken washing machines siting in his back yard.
“Can we do something with that?” He asked, “I am tired of washing laundry by hand.”
We sat and took both of the machines apart. Before I went back to my new assign post, I finished making a working washing machine from parts of the two. That made our relationship even better.
The time came for me to pack my stuff and travel to my new Airforce base. I had to get to the big old bus station in Tel-Aviv. The Middle Eastern music was blasting from every direction and the cassette peddlers were yelling at you from each booth or cart. I stopped at Wimpey’s for a hamburger with fried onions. It was going to be a long drive; better eat two. Don’t drink too much, there are no bathrooms on those buses. But when I finally boarded the designated bus, some other peddlers approached the windows and sold me a Jerusalem bagel loaded with sesame and a lemon popsicle – two of my favorite snacks. I saved the bagel for later. The bus was full of soldiers, all on the way to Yamit. We had to drive south pass Ashdod, Ashkelon and to the Gaza Stip. The buss drove a little east of the crowded city and through Rafah. Here for the first time, I experienced pure hate. No, I didn’t hate anyone, the bus drove next to an Arab school – Madrassa – where kids were standing to the side of the road, next to piles of rocks. As soon as we drove next to them, they threw the rocks at the bus. The last time I was in an Arab village I was welcomed for the busines I was bringing, there for I was surprised to feel that hatred from the little kids. Once we got out of that town and out of the Gaza strip into the Sinai Peninsula, we were welcomed with the sand dunes everywhere. We turned south for a few miles. On each side of the road, decorating the dunes were dry wood and shrubs forming fences around black open Bedouin tents. Camels, donkeys and many goats were around each of them. What surprised me most about those nomad people were the TV tall antennas next to their tents. We turned right and drove west into the desert. This was a narrow road. Long and straight. I don’t think I ever saw a straight road that long in Israel. And then, like in a mirage I saw trees, I mean real trees, in the middle of nowhere, and then some buildings that reminded me the dorm buildings at the academy. We entered the base passing the MP guard station and the bus dropped us next to the dormitories. As soon as we exited the bus, as if to welcome us I saw and heard two Nesher planes buzzing over our heads. I found my way to the Master sergeant’s office which was surrounded with trees. Each tree had a small pipe dripping water underneath. I received a key for my room, dropped my gear and walked toward my new assignment.
About a mile walk south of the dorms were a few prefab units each with a sign above the door. It was easy to find the instruments department. A cute big-eyed girl was sited behind a desk.
“May I help you?
“I am here to meet with Captain Mizrahi.”
She lowered her eyes for a moment, “My name is Becca,” then raised her head and pointed to the door behind her.
“Captain Miz…” I started and immediately stopped.
A dark-skinned officer stood up. He was a little darker than me, but his hair wasn’t curly, it was straight and black. I saluted.
“Sergeant Tibi, reporting for duty, where is Captain Mizrahi?”
“Dead, I am Captain Gandhi, I was expecting you, have a seat.”
I sat down. I was shocked.
“Is there a contract for me?”
“What contract?” Said Captain Gandhi almost with anger.” That idiot Mizrahi got himself killed in a car accident last week and forced me to move here from my better position at the headquarters.”
“I am sorry.” I whispered.
“I looked at your file, you are a troublemaker and I have no idea why they brought you here. I am afraid you will have to sit here in the office with Becca until we figure out what to do with you.”
“I was promise to head the repair department.”
“There is no repair department, we will be sending the repairs up north.” I didn’t know what to say. “You were marked as unfit for service,” he continued. “I have to go now; I have to troubleshoot a problem on a plane.”
“Can I help?”
“No!” He said as we were walking out of his office. A familiar tall guy walked in at the same time.
“Kuter?” I asked.
“Tibi? What are you doing here?” he was holding a fat scroll, like the ones I colored at the academy.
“Let me see that!” Interrupted Captain Gandhi and took the scroll. He spread it on a long table next to Becca’s desk. I leaned over to look when he turned back at me, yelling: “Stay out of it, sergeant!”
Kuter who was a sergeant first class now cut in. “Captain, he is good at that, he was the best at the academy in trouble shooting.”
“I don’t care, I don’t want him here anyway.”
I backed up and asked cute Becca for a transfer request form.
It took a while, I got to sit most of the time with Becca, filing papers and calling Aviva, or home occasionally.
“How are you? Mom asked, “Are you happy at your new place? Remember you were allergic to dust.”
“I think I am cured, Mom, this morning I woke up to a room full of sand even when the windows were closed shut. We had to use a shovel to clean the room. The sand was piling up all the way to the windowsills.”
“Any new friends?”
“Not new, my classmate Kuter, he is also my roommate. Oh, and there is this girl from Netanya working with me at the same office. How is Claude and Dad?”
“Claud is fine, he misses you and Avi. But do you remember the guy who stole the diamonds?”
“The Bas player who worked for Dad? He got a short sentence for returning the diamonds.”
“Yes, that one, He’s dead.”
“Not him too…” I said to myself.
“He was freed last week and his friends from his band “Garden of Eden”, had a big party for him and he played with them on a concert. The next day he was home when someone buzzed him to come down. As soon as he came out of the building, he was shot with an Uzi from a car that took off, leaving him bleeding to death.”
“Oy!” I said, “We didn’t like him anyway”.
Aviva’s calls were shorter, she couldn’t call much from her camp and her father didn’t have a phone. So, I only got to spend time with her on weekends. Lucky for me I was able to leave on Thursday afternoon. Hitch hiking from the middle of the desert wasn’t easy, even more so when there is a sandstorm.
The storm came as a surprise. I walked to the MP station and from there took a ride to the edge of Han-Yuenes. As I was waiting for my next ride, I saw from the western distance a light brown cloud moving toward my location. The cloud was on the ground and was high almost to the sky. As it was getting closer it appeared as if it was engulfing everything in its way. I felt it first in my teeth. The grains got in my mouth and I could feel them like a handful of sand. Every time I moved my teeth, I could hear the grinding noise in my ear which were filling up quickly with sand. My cloths, my gun my boots, everything was filling with sand. I couldn’t see my way around, not even my hand if I extended it. And then, in a flash like it was never there. It passed me and I could see clearly again. A military pickup truck stopped next to me.
“Hop in!” the driver yelled; “you don’t want to stay here, not even without the sandstorm”.
***
The Technical Academy
Aviva, Imre and I were at the edge of Netanya’s market. Imre was dealing with the wagon driver. The flat bed horse porters. They all spoke Hungarian, go figure…
After a long search we finally found a house that met our needs and price. It was in a section of Netanya called Vatikim, which means “seniors”. It was a neighborhood of small townhouses with older generation inhabitants. Each unit was sharing a wall with its neighbor, it had two bedrooms a kitchen and bathroom, and a quarter acre in the back. The Back yard had a little shed but Imre was planning to build a much bigger workshop. It looked like we needed four platforms. Imre managed to collect a lot of wood, metal sheets and posts to build a big shed in the backyard. We had to say goodbye to the neighbors in the south side of the town, some we will never forget.
There were two women next door to Aviva’s house, one of them with a broken back. She had to walk on four in a shape of the letter “A” she slept sitting up. Her family made a special bed for her. The interesting part was that her best friend was walking with her in the street also bent over even if her back was fine. When the poor woman finally died in her specially made bed, I was shocked to see her best friend walking upright.
Both women lived literally next to Aviva; one on each side of her house. That morning Aviva and I woke up to the yells of the neighbor. She found her mom dead in her makeshift bed and yelled the typical North African Cry of mourning. “Wooo! Wooo!” By the time the movers arrived the crying subsided, and we started loading the furniture and the piles of wood Imre collected. The last thing we packed was not really packed but laid on Aviva’s lap was her puppy Bingo. I didn’t get to spend much time helping Aviva and her move. I had to get back to Yamit.
As usual, I got a ride to Tel-Aviv and at the noisy bus station where I got my two wimpy burgers. The bagels and the lemon pops peddler were also waiting there for me. Once we got to Han-Younes, again the kids were lining to throw rocks at us. I promised myself that next time I go home I will borrow a sling shot from my little brother Claude. And fire back at those kids. Unfortunately, it wasn’t going to happen. By the time I arrived at the camp, Becca handed me a piece of paper. “You have been transferred to the Airforce Academy.” It said, “report to the Micro Mechanic and instruments Department by Tuesday 10:00 AM.”
“Finally!” I said to Becca, “it took them some time. But the Academy? Really? What do I know about teaching?”
I hugged Becca goodbye, packed my gear and walked toward the gate. Looking at the miracle on both sides of the road where trees were watered with purified water that came all the way from the Mediterranean Sea. Some trees I planted on one of our afternoon activities.
The first ride I caught was all the way to Ashdod and there I stopped to visit my Uncle Rone, Aunt Rachel and their kids Batyah and Ofer.
“You will be an excellent teacher,” said Batyah. “Don’t forget how it took you 5 minutes to teach me how to tackle the problems in algebra. After that I never had any difficulty solving any of the problems.”
I loved visiting them. Aunt Rachel made the best Chips and Schnitzels. Her salad was cut a little big and a bit salty like my grandmother’s, but it was fun sitting together with my cousins and then going dancing with Batyah at the folk-dance club. The next morning, I continued home and went to visit Aviva. She wasn’t in a good mood, her dog Bingo got ran over by a bus. Trying to console her I promised that we will get another pup soon.
The first thing I was told to do when I got to the academy was to read the books they were using and study the material. A week later I was sent to a teaching crash course. And was expected to start teaching right after. We were taught how to breath and how to talk and all kind of teaching technics, psychology and pedagogy. We were instructed to start preparing for the next faze which will happen withing 9 months. We had to create our own Test, plan, and instructions. I was to sit in a few classes and see how my pears teach, then do it along with my pears watching. It took a while for me to feel comfortable standing in front of people. But like a switch went on; “it’s like playing the guitar and singing in front of people I don’t know on the beach.
The good thing about being back in the “country” was that I could be home more often and spend more time with Aviva. Imre didn’t believe in wasting anything. He never bought meat or eggs in the market. He had a friend in a one of the Moshavim around Netanya, Moshav Nordia was a farmers’ village, most of its inhabitants were from Hungary. Since Imre didn’t speak Hebrew well, it was easy for him to deal at Nordia with his friends. He would buy fresh eggs and old chicken that stopped laying eggs. He would let them roam at the back yard and feed them scrap. Whenever he needed to cook some meat, he would kill one of the chickens, gut them, chop the inners and feed it to the live chicken. He would use the legs for his Goulash. The Feet and breast bones for soup. He would collect the fat in Jars. But my favorite was what he made with the breast. Imre would cut the breast to thin slices and tenderize them with a wooden hammer, dip them in flour. He would beat some eggs and dip the floured breast in the eggs and then would cover them with breadcrumbs he crushed from old bread. Next, he would deep fry the chicken in the chicken fat, spread some salt and serve them.
Imre was very creative in his small kitchen. From old grapes he would make very strong wine. I remember him preparing goulash, he even made the flat noodles from scratch.
Going home daily from the north of Haifa wasn’t an easy task. I had to find a better way to travel instead of relying on the train schedule or the luck of hitch hiking. Every Wednesday outside the academy, private used car dealers would line up along the road leading to the base. I walked out of the gate and decided to stroll and look at the cars for sale. A Sussita like Efrie’s was standing right in front of me. The price was within my reach, now that I was getting paid a nice military salary. I took the car for a test drive and paid the guy with a check and drove it home.
I was lucky, used cars weren’t always a good idea to buy without a mechanic’s check. The Sussita drove smoothly and fast all the way home. Every day I drove back and forth to Haifa and back, but the Israeli gas price is very expensive I had to come up with another solution. Being one of the staff at the academy entitled me to a room. I decided to take the opportunity to take one. I would stay a few nights at the assign room and save some money on gas.
On the first night I stayed there I remembered why it was a bad idea. First was the noise, the 10-cylinder crop duster plane early in the morning. It sounded as if it was flying right over my room. Then came the smell from the refineries.
I had to come up with another solution. Our department was located at far side of the base. Way over the air strip next to the hangars. It was a newer building with sealed windows and thick walls. I was given a corner at the back of one of the classrooms with a desk and a chair to do my work, check the students’ homework and so on. I even brought an old typewriter that I picked up from my dad’s cousin. I started to work on my instruction manual, and test.
At the back of the room, we had a few metal cabinets for our supply right behind my desk. It gave me an idea; I switched the location of the desk with the cabinets. I created a wall to hide my desk behind them to give me some privacy. Since I had the key to room so I can work at any hour of the day or night I brought my matrass from my room, stood it against the back of the cabinets. At night I would lay it on the floor and had a place to sleep quietly and with much less smell. Showering was not a problem – I could always use the showers at the dorm and bathroom was just next door to my classroom. I managed to plan my evenings so I could join a folk-dance class at some evenings and some evening I’d spend writing my manual and some other I would drive home to spend some time with Aviva or my friends. Before you know it, my manual became a book with drawings and very detailed instructions on how to troubleshoot and repair the airplanes’ instruments.
Just like the time when I was a cadet at the academy the same tests where given every Friday and the students who passed would get to go home for the weekend and those who didn’t, would stay the weekend to study.
I was finally assigned a class to teach and was not going to let anyone in my class fail, as far as I could. Some students couldn’t be helped or didn’t want to pass on purpose because they wanted to move to another program. I offered my class every Thursday evening to stay with me after dinner to study for the exam. I didn’t know all the exams (They were all multi choice answers. We called them American Tests) And I knew that a lot of the questions had very tricky answers. Unfortunately, a lot of them were more questions that were testing your Hebrew more than testing your knowledge of the subject. I was determined to change that someday. Meanwhile I had to prepare the students for their test. So, I would spend the time practicing tests and scenarios of the troubleshooting exercises. Sure enough, most of the students passed with high scores.
“Sergeant Tibi,” one student approached me one Friday before leaving for home. “Can I have a word with you?”
“Shure, I promised you guys, I am here to help you with anything you need.” I said with a smile. He was one of the quite students in my class. “You did well in your test, Good work! How can I help you?”
“Well, it is our last day with you, we are moving to the next course.”
“Oh, yes, that’s right I hope you do just as well.”
“Thanks! I just wanted to thank you. Before I met you, I didn’t think I was good at anything, I was lost, I didn’t want to live…” He took a deep breath, “and you changed it all.”
“What do you mean? We never talked before; you were just one of my students sitting quietly in the back row.”
“You see?” He continued, “you even remembered where I sat, I learned so much from you, I learned to like what you were teaching. I really hope to be able to use it for my advantage once I get my post. My parents practically gave up on any hope for future, but you gave me one. So, thank you! He leaned forward and was about to give me a hug, he hesitated, after all I was his superior. I spread my arms and gave him the hug and sent him on his way.
I never dreamt of having such effect on people, I drove home planning my future.
After working as a teacher for a while at the academy, each teacher receives a new task; to be a head instructor of a class. The head instructor’s task was to make sure all the cadets are up and ready in the morning, to march with them everywhere before and after class, and deal with any personal problem each student might have. It was my turn to receive such a task.
“Captain Mordechai,” I said as I walked to the office of the head of our department. “I have a special request.”
“What is it Tibi? You’ve been a nice addition to our crew, I will be happy to grant it.” He was smiling and it made me feel proud for the first time since I joined the military.
“I heard that we will be receiving a new class of women joining our school for the first time.”
“That is correct,” he said looking up from his paper directly at me.
“I would like to be their head instructor.”
“Are you serious? He looked at me as if I was made out of glass.
“Yes, for some reason I feel I would be the best choice for that.”
“This is the first women class ever in the history of the Airforce, we can’t allow any mess-ups.”
“I know, Yet, what makes you sure that any other teacher would do a better job?”
“Let me think about it.” He said with a smile, “take this next week off and when you return, I will let you know my decision. The girls aren’t joining us until then.”
“What do you think?” I asked Aviva, “A group of girls technicians in the Airforce.”
“I think it is about time.”
“And me being their instructor?”
“I think you are crazy!”
“Are you jealous?”
“Not at all, you silly!” She said with a smile. “Do you really want to deal with women? You are marvelous when I have my time of the month, but how would you feel with thirty other girls having their period?”
“Hmm…”
“And there are so many other problems that girls have.” She continued, “boys are easy; they might get physical once in a while but that’s about it. Boys are straight forward, unlike us women …”
“Something to think about,” I said.
“How do you like the color I picked for my room?” sked Aviva as she walked me to her house. It was light olive green and her father’s room was light chocolate brown. “Dad wanted me to ask you if you can drive him to his brother in Rishon LeTziyon. He has a lot more wood there and maybe you can bring it back with you in the Sussita or on top.
“I don’t have a roof rack, but I guess I can make one out of wood. After all the car is made of fiberglass so we will have to spread the load evenly.”
“Will you be able to do it tomorrow?”
“I guess, meanwhile, I almost forgot, look what I brought.” I pulled out of my car a small jar with Beta Siamese fish. I also had a book telling me all about those of fish. “I want to try to breed them.”
Siamese fish are territorials; you can’t have two of them together, not even a male and a female. In nature they are swamp dwellers, each one of them lives in a little puddle far away from his relatives. They are usually sold in separate jars and kept that way. A male Beta is very colorful with wavy long fins. If you introduce it to another, they will fight each other to death. When a male is ready to breed, he would build a nest of bubbles. That is when you know he is ready to meet his female partner. The uglier the better, this way he won’t confuse her with another male and kill her. Once the fish are introduced to each other they would start dancing close, almost wrapping each other. The female would lay her eggs and the male would fertilize them. Once that is done you have to separate them, or the male would kill the female.
It took me 3 tries to find the right female. She was a little bigger than her partner. I moved her to another aquarium right after their ritual. Now all I had to do was wait. When the little fish finally appeared, I was ecstatic.
Look, Aviva, we have babies. When she turned to look, out of nowhere a neighboring cat ran into our yard jumped on the railing and from there onto the small aquarium nocking it down.
“That’s it I am done with cats; we are getting a big dog.” I said as I was picking the male and putting him in another jar. The little babies were gone.
The next morning, after dropping Aviva at her military camp, Imre and I continued to Rishon LeTziyon to pick up his wood. I couldn’t believe how much he collected there, I am not sure how and where he got it from, but it was a lot. I filled the back of the car with short planks, but the long planks were longer than my car. I wasn’t ready for that. We loaded the top of the car on the makeshift roof rack. The pile was so high the car actually sank from the heavy weight. We tied it down with ropes making sure nothing is loose. I hung the emergency triangle in the back and a red rag in the front and we started driving slowly home. It didn’t take long before we were stopped by a policeman.
“You are violating so many traffics rules.”
“I am sorry,” I said. “I am trying to help this old man.”
“No excuses, here is your ticket, Be careful out there.”
“Thanks again,” I said and drove on, thinking; “my very first ticket.”
“On the border between Syria and Israel were two camps,” I started telling the class of misfit soldiers. “One Israeli camp and one Syrian.”
The soldiers in front of me were soldiers who were uneducated, juvenile delinquents, from foster homes or even from jails. The military had to find a job for them. This group was destined to be Warehouse Clerks. Each department or base had warehouses where the clerk would have a book with part numbers and location corresponding to the number. Most of the times they wouldn’t even know what that number means or what is the part for. My task for that week (before the class of girls arrive) was to teach them, and to give them some ideas about what they were about to work with.
“As I was saying,” I continued “two camps facing each other on the border. Every morning an Israeli soldier would wake up walk closer to the border and yell: ‘Mohamad!’ On the other side Mohamad would answer: ‘What?’
‘Fuck you!’ the Israeli would answer. Now this would happen every day for almost two weeks; ‘Mohamad! What? Fuck you!’
Mohamad was very upset he went to his officer and asked him for advice; ‘what should I do? Should I shoot him?
‘Are you crazy? Lost your mind? Do you want to start a war? Listen you stupid, what time does he call you?’
‘6:00 in the morning.’
‘So, wake up tomorrow at 5:00 and yell, Cohen! There are many Cohens in Israel. Once he answers, tell him fuck you and fuck your Mom.’
Poor Mohamad didn’t sleep all night, he waited for 5:00 AM to get at the nasty Israeli. Came 5:00 AM and Mohamad yelled, ‘Cohen!’ From the other side an Israeli soldier yelled half a sleep, ‘how is it?’
“It is me, Mohamad,’ answered the Arab soldier.
“Then fuck you and fuck your mother too!”
My group of misfits were rolling on the floor when I said, “I am not finished, see this?” I sowed them a part of a camera lens. “This is so the pilot can see what he is shooting at and record it.” I had a folder with me with so many jokes, one for each part I was introducing to them. No other teacher wanted to teach this class, “wear a bulletproof jacket” my colleagues would worn me. There for I came prepared. No one will leave my class without learning something. I remember being on the other side, it wasn’t long ago. The class was such a success that Captain Mordechai decided to send only me to teach those classes.
“Great job, the girls are yours, Sergeant first class Tibi!”
***
